I’ve recently joined Greenpeace as the insight intern, based in the Data, Planning and Insights team.
My internship is giving me the opportunity to train in data analysis software, and to take ownership of an internal knowledge library. I also respond to requests from across the organisation.
I’ve always been a passionate environmentalist, so I was so excited when I saw this opportunity to work at Greenpeace!
Finding the Greenpeace internship
The charity Leonard Cheshire facilitated me getting my internship with Greenpeace through their Change 100 programme. The purpose of this scheme is to give people with disabilities/mental health conditions the opportunity to gain work experience and skills through industry leading organisations.
I found out about Change 100 through the Greenpeace website. I went there looking for opportunities after finishing my degree. There I learned about Greenpeace UK’s internship programme, which focuses on providing opportunities to people who are underrepresented in the sector. They work with a range of organisations to achieve this, one of whom is Leonard Cheshire. It was really exciting to discover that Greenpeace actively wanted to work with me, and that they welcome and support people with disabilities and different abilities.
Working remotely
I started in my role in September 2020, when the majority of the organisation was working remotely due to Coronavirus. This has been tough because I haven’t been able to get to know people like I would usually. My learning is also much more structured, with less opportunity to pick things up along the way. It was particularly strange getting ready for my first day of work in my room!
I struggled initially to get to grips with the projects that were going on in my team. In the beginning people kept asking me if there were any projects I’d like to get involved with. But being new to the role and not working remotely made it hard to know what opportunities there were. At first I was concerned I was missing out. However as I’ve gained more confidence, I’ve made the most of the flexibility to work on different things. This has been one of my favourite things about my internship so far.
Hitting my stride
I’ve just finished working on a project for the oceans campaign about opinions on the sea, which was particularly interesting because it was the topic of my university dissertation and getting to research it in ‘real life’ was really exciting.
I feel like I’ve started to hit my stride now I am about six weeks in. Having my own projects is increasing my confidence and helping me to feel more settled. One of my tasks has been to collect information from each member of the data team about their role for an ‘about us’ page. This will help people find the right person to approach with an idea of request for some data work. It’s also helped me to get to know everyone!
This week I am summarising findings from previous research and uploading these summaries into our knowledge library. This will make these findings more accessible, so the whole organisation can use the results. It will also help to prevent tests being duplicated as people can easily see what’s already been done.
This has been a really interesting way to get a more detailed picture of what my team works on.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what the team has lined up for me next. And discovering the skills and insight I can gain through my time here. Hopefully not all in the remote office!
